>> reporter: scott, the white house does not deny opening fiscal cliff proposals ignore persistent republican demands for deeper spending cuts than the president has already proposed. that's the point. no matter how close the country comes to plunging off the fiscal cliff, topped a visors say the president will not budge until republicans acknowledge they will keep tax rates where they are for middle income families and raise them on households earning more than $250,000 a year. >> in washington nothing's easy so there's going to be prolonged negotiations. and all of us are going to have so get out of our comfort zones to make that happen. g'm willing to do that. i'm hopeful that enough members of con willing to do that as well. we can solve these problems. but where the clock is really ticking right now is on middle- class taxes. >> reporter: but the clock isng. the cold political reality is this: mr. obama is now on record seeking twice as much in higher tax revenue than the democratically controlled senate passed earlier this year with only 51 votes. tax increases that cannot pass ase sena